Let’s face it – we love retail, but it is a tough game. Unlike a builder who finishes a building, steps back, admires his handy work and takes a week or two off to recharge his batteries, retailers never stop. One is either in the midst of a selling period or planning/buying a season or two ahead. It is like a treadmill. You simply can’t get off. That is until you retire, hang up your gloves, and disappear into the sunset. Fay Morley turned 100 this week on August 1. I popped in to say hel
lo. She is still running her haberdashery shop in Manly, Sydney. And a more sprightly senior citizen you will not find. She has had the shop for 18 years and still opens five and a half days a week. She walks to work and home again each day.
Her opening hours are 9.00am to 4.30pm. She doesn’t sell stuff in packets. You can buy one button if you like and Mrs Morley will proudly tell you that some Astor buttons are still Australian made.
She is a fifth generation Australian and describes herself as “an old bushy” who loves her black tea.
She doesn’t drink spirits but was tempted to drink a glass of bubbly on her birthday. She told me that if she had more than one glass, she may end up under the counter!
As I sat in her tiny shop, there was a never ending stream of people poking their heads around the door wishing her Happy Birthday.
She cooks an evening meal for herself most evenings, but buys her lunches from Coles “so that they can pay their rent”.
And talking about rent, some months she manages to cover it from her trading, but most months she falls a little short.
Doing the arithmetic, I realised that she had been in the business since she was 82. But at age 100 she isn’t thinking of retiring just yet.
Mrs Morley showed me with pride her framed message from the Queen and Governor General.
So if you are nearing retirement age, have a thought for Fay Morley – you may have a few years left in you yet.
But you have to love it.
* Stuart Bennie is a retail consultant at Impact Retailing www.impactretailing.com.au and can be contacted at stuart@impactretailing.com.au or 0414 631 702.
